UFC
UFC 153's Jon Fitch: Title shots in the UFC more "popularity contest" than sport
Oct 11, 2012 - 1:15:53 PM UFC 153's Jon Fitch: Title shots in the UFC more "popularity contest" than sport

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Jon Fitch returns to action on Saturday night for the first time in 2012, taking on an extremely dangerous opponent in the fast-rising Erick Silva at UFC 153. Fitch will be entering hostile territory in Silva's home country of Brazil, but the longtime UFC veteran is hoping he can bring fans around with his performance.

"I don't necessarily want to shut that crowd up, I just wanna pull a Rocky 4, get them on my side, make them love me, make them respect me," Fitch said in a recent interview with MMAFightCorner.com. "That's more of what I'm looking to happen then make me shut them up. I'm not going in there to disrespect or try to one up their country. I'm just trying to show them what I can do and what I am as a fighter."

Fitch is in an unfamiliar spot in the welterweight division. After losing his only title shot against Georges St-Pierre in 2008, Fitch posted five straight wins before going to a draw against B.J. Penn. That was followed by a fast knockout loss against Johny Hendricks last December.

However, the welterweight division is in an interesting spot right now, with a lot of things moving around and fighters trying to move in place. Fitch hopes a big performance against Silva sets him on the right path as the division starts sorting itself out.

"I think the division is all up in the air right now," Fitch said. "It's like we all just had some kind of big impact on the ground like we're all standing around on a trampoline and something hit it and we all jumped up in the air and we're waiting for the pieces to hit. I think the next series fights over the next six months is going to kind of let us see how things are settling. Who's going where, and who's staying at the top, and who's making a move to the top."

"You never know how GSP's going to come back from his injury. When you have an injury like that to your knee or a major joint, it's never the same. Things change, they slide different, the stability is different, you have to re-learn how to use that knee and you have to redevelop that confidence, some guys never do. We'll have to see how he comes back. I'm sure he'll be 100% and adapt to it fine, but you never know."

Still, a win alone isn't going to raise him far enough up the ladder to get into the title picture, and the general perception of his fighting style still hasn't changed for the positive. Fitch is well aware of the issues in getting a title fight in the UFC, and says it's a realization that fighting merit alone won't get you there.

"I think that's what we're coming to see kind of, or least that's what I'm coming to accept, is that title shots and the belt holder, a lot of times it's more of a popularity contest than a sport," Fitch said. "And I think we have things like with 151 and Jon Jones and that type of situation happening, because if we had more criteria and it was more sport based than popularity based, or ticket sales based, then you would have kind of a ranking system and a pecking order and you would know exactly who the replacement is. You would go into every title, every eliminator, every kind of contender fight, knowing who the alternate is. There would be no worry of 'Oh no we don't have somebody to fight the belt holder or somebody to fight in this title eliminator' because you'd have the alternate ready to go."

"We've gotten to a case now where we're kind of selling fights based on one guy or one fight rather than the whole show. If you went to the UFC or to one of these Strikeforce's in order to see ten great fights or twelve great fights, not just one guy fighting. I think we kind of are going the road boxing is a little bit and that gets into the situation where shows get canceled."

Penick's Analysis: Fitch seems well aware of his status in the UFC, and though he's not exactly happy about the way things work, he's understanding that it's simply a reality of the sport in 2012. He's got a huge fight ahead of him on Saturday, because a loss to Silva will absolutely end any hope of getting back to a title fight. A win, and especially a win in impressive fashion, will help to turn things around for him, but he'll need multiple performances in a row that are entertaining in order to shake the perception that has developed of him. Is he going to be able to do that? It's a long shot, but it's certainly not impossible. Saturday's fight will tell us a lot about where Fitch is at in 2012.

[Jon Fitch art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]